Gameplay questions

December 19th, 2011, 05:44

I've decided to specialize in two-hand weapons. I'm wondering if investing perks in Block will have benefits if I don't use shields?

Also, I notice that the real bad ass npcs that give me a hard time in combat have very fast attacks, and can chain attack much faster than I can. I think I've also noticed finess animations in their moves… spins and side-steps and such. When you get up into the higher levels, do your character's attacks get faster, where he/she can chain attacks together? Will I have new attack animations? Or is it simply the underlying stat improvements that make you a bad ass?

You still need block as a Two-hander. Make sure you get the block feat that slows down time when they do a special attack - it makes it quite easy to counter specials, to execute a bash you hold down the right mouse and tap the left button once. Make sure you beef up stamina, I kept it within 50 points of my health which seemed to work for me.

Originally Posted by Ovenall
I use sword and shield and really don't find blocking all that useful. Seems like going in swinging is the best bet usually, though I'll use block sometimes for the fun of it.

I have real trouble believing that. Blocking with a shield against arrows and magic (but especially magic) is very useful and saved my butt on quite a few occasions. Combination of Elemental Protection and Deflect Arrows perks and Spellbreaker makes blocking extremely useful.

Originally Posted by zahratustra
I have real trouble believing that. Blocking with a shield against arrows and magic (but especially magic) is very useful and saved my butt on quite a few occasions. Combination of Elemental Protection and Deflect Arrows perks and Spellbreaker makes blocking extremely useful.

Well, I haven't gotten that far in the game yet, so you have a point. I'm level 26 or so and have been using only magic gear I can buy or find, no enchanting. I'm Nord so I have good cold resist and I found boots with 40% fire resist. Potions are ridiculously plentiful like in other ES games. I'll continue down the block path, but those are my beliefs at this point at least… Strong offense > Block defense

Another couple points: More than one enemy on you means you're only blocking the one (usually). Eliminating at least one ASAP is better than eliminating one over longer time while taking less damage from it, because the other guy is still wailing on you while you're blocking his friend.

The difficulty is kind of erratic in this game. I can steamroll most stuff I find, but once in a while a super-bandit will pop up amongst his wimpy friends and kill me in a couple hits. All these points are part of my observation that combat is the weakest part of Skyrim.

Originally Posted by Ovenall
The difficulty is kind of erratic in this game. I can steamroll most stuff I find, but once in a while a super-bandit will pop up amongst his wimpy friends and kill me in a couple hits. All these points are part of my observation that combat is the weakest part of Skyrim.

But that's how it is in the movies and in books, too. You wade through the mooks and then the last one standing against you is the REAL foe.

Originally Posted by Ovenall
The difficulty is kind of erratic in this game. I can steamroll most stuff I find, but once in a while a super-bandit will pop up amongst his wimpy friends and kill me in a couple hits.

And that's exactly when blocking becomes useful. To "wade through the mooks" (lovely phrase Bill, just had to steal it ) hack and slash is good enough but, for the bosses, well timed block or two saves your butt.

I found that shield bashing is quite handy for staggering powerful foes, who can then be slashed two or tree times before they recover (or "power-attacked") and/or interrupt their own power attack. Using block makes melee combat less one-dimensional in this game.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
But that's how it is in the movies and in books, too. You wade through the mooks and then the last one standing against you is the REAL foe.

I actually like this.

I see your point, but when actually playing it becomes trial and error. Kill a bunch of wimpy books, then suddenly a mook who's extremely powerful (but looks like the other mooks) come along and kills you. Reload. Now you know where the powerful mook is. If it was a true boss, I could see this as great.

Overall I love this game and I'm nitpicking here. Best game I've played in quite a while.

Originally Posted by BlackHarmo
I found that shield bashing is quite handy for staggering powerful foes, who can then be slashed two or tree times before they recover (or "power-attacked") and/or interrupt their own power attack. Using block makes melee combat less one-dimensional in this game.

^This. Shield bashing is great early on. Though, I stopped using shields since block was sucking points from illusion and one-handed. Now the illusion spell calm works like my block.

You just have to be more careful. If the foes are taking you down in one blow it might be that you are letting them get too close, don't have enough hit points, or (or perhaps and) don't have good enough defenses.

Originally Posted by Freeradical
I've decided to specialize in two-hand weapons. I'm wondering if investing perks in Block will have benefits if I don't use shields?

Also, I notice that the real bad ass npcs that give me a hard time in combat have very fast attacks, and can chain attack much faster than I can. I think I've also noticed finess animations in their moves… spins and side-steps and such. When you get up into the higher levels, do your character's attacks get faster, where he/she can chain attacks together? Will I have new attack animations? Or is it simply the underlying stat improvements that make you a bad ass?

Thanks.

Perk improvements and gear make you a bad ass. I'm currently decked out in enchanted Daedric with a Daedric blade and I'm doing pretty well. Some enemies can still get to me though. I put a lot of perks into combat abilities as well, so combat is naturally easier for my character.

Attacks only get faster by using weapons like daggers, since they're smaller. All weapons have a set attack speed. 2-handers are obviously going to be bulky and slow for the most part, but hit the hardest.

Lastly, investing points in Block is a good idea, even if you're using 2-handers. Specifically, the skills Shield Wall and Quick Reflexes will help you out. The other perks are made for shields so they will be useless.

Thanks, Fluent, this helps me greatly. Though it saddens me that the basic combat style at the start of the game will be exactly the same at the end, only with more protection and devistation. Ah well…

So, just Shield Wall and Quick Reflexes… that's exaclty the info I needed. Now I don't have to waste perk points.

Thanks to everybody else too for the feedback. I also find that blocking is good mostly for the stuns induced by bashing, as mentioned above in the thread.

Yeah, bashing with a shield works great. Overall the shield is very useful. It also helps against mages, since I have the perk that does 50% protection against elemental attacks.

As for the combat staying the same all game, that is true if you stick with melee. There isn't much variety really. It's a bit…basic. Block an attack, counter a few times, throw in a power attack for good measure, rinse and repeat. This is your basic melee experience.

That said, some say Skyrim's weak point is it's combat. To that I say, I still have fun killing things in melee and I'm 125 hours in. It's just simply fun.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
Seriously, I did a orc two handed fighter and he did fine with no block skill. His biggest problem was with ranged foes and block doesn't help with that.

Orcs are a little bit overpowered compared to redguards and nords - the 50% damage reduction ability is very useful against bosses. It certainly depends on how you create/level your character though, if you level up non-combat skills/spread your skill gain then a melee character can find it quite hard early on. Possibly difficulty level almost has an impact.

My 2-hander is close to max level and I still block against certain oponents, the guaranteed stagger makes finishing off high level shield oppenents far easier. I didn't actually start blocking until late 20ish level but once I did then I found battles far easier. I find the melee combat to be enjoyable altogether.

It's probably because I'm a lazy gamer, and a little bit hard-headed, but I usually just rush into battle and try to crush as many skulls as I can, and see how many re-loads it takes me to progress through a tough slog.*

But *with TES5, I'm continually finding myself digging into my inventory during tough fights and utilizing every buff/equipment/power at my disposal to see the fight through… and for the most part it's working.*

For instance, up against a particularly fierce, heavily armored Orc who was cutting me down within 5 seconds, I employed the tactics of moving off to the field of strewn bodys I had left in my wake, and using the Ritual Power to create a squad of helpers. With A few buff potions, donning the Gauntlets of Sure Grip (+15% two-handed damage) *I'd forgotten I had, *summoning a familiar with a newly acquired Staff of Familiar, poisoning my greataxe, *and my newly formed squad of zombies, the Orc didn't stand a chance. * *

Overkill? Who said that? Lol

I know this sort of thing is old hat for many of you out there. It pretty much is for me too. But like I *mentioned above, I'm usually too lazy and/or rarely find success doing so. But for some reason, I'm finding using all the tools in my arsenal *less ponderous an undertaking in TES5… and far more effective than I've experience in most other RPGs. That right there is what's saving the merely adequate combat in Skyrim.